Slipping Through Our Fingers

               

      I've never been a big New Years Eve fan, I go to bed early and wake up early so staying up until the clock strikes midnight is a form of torture for me.  This year we planned to have a family night in with movies, chili, and pajamas.  Meritt was upstairs playing, the chili was simmering on the stove, I was unloading the dishwasher (with my 7 month old assistant, Wells), and Brian was gathering the trash to take it outside.  Meritt yells from upstairs "I pee peed" we say good job, or something to that effect, Brian goes outside and I hear a noise just over our dishwasher.  I look at Wells who is standing at the dishwasher and is being showered with water, it takes me a few seconds to realize that this water is coming from our ceiling.  I run outside yell at Brian to come in and when I step back in the kitchen I see that water is now pouring from the ceiling above the stovetop as well, our chili on the stovetop is being showered with water from our upstairs bathroom...YUCK!


         Brian runs upstairs turns the water off and it still takes a good 10-15 minutes for all the water to drain down out of our ceiling.  Ends up Meritt used almost an entire roll of toilet paper when she went to the restroom causing the toilet to back up and shower our kitchen.  We often refer to ourselves as the Griswold's, once the water was turned off and Brian came downstairs we grabbed towels began cleaning the kitchen and laughing that our chili was ruined, our kitchen ceiling was now discolored and that we were having a rockin new years eve. 


      This past Sunday, one of my girlfriends sent me a text that it was 4 years ago Sunday that I was pregnant with Meritt and we were having her gender reveal party.  She then said "where has the time gone?" I replied  "it is slipping through our fingers".  My friend and I have had many conversations over the last few years about how quickly our kids are growing and how we sometimes wish we could hit the pause button. 

      If only life were like the water gushing through our kitchen ceiling.  If only we could run to the water valve and turn it off.  If only we could stop time and relish in the moments for just a little longer.  My kids lives are like water that has been poured in the palms of my hands it is slipping through my fingers no matter how tightly I squeeze. 

      Life moves fast, the days are long and the years, gosh, the years they are so short.  The time we can't get back, the memories will last, so I press on taking an obscene amount of pictures and trying to carve into my brain the moments that I will so desperately miss.  I still find myself squeezing my fingers tight and hoping that if I squeeze tight enough I can pause time for just a moment.